This invention relates to the construction of informational cards, and specifically to the construction of informational cards having a magnetic feature that allows the cards to be mounted and displayed on conveniently located magnetic receptive surfaces.
Advertisers are always seeking innovative ways to distinguish themselves from other providers of competing goods and services. One way for a vendor to distinguish itself and its products or services is to distribute magnetic information cards which its consumers may place in a convenient and conspicuous location, such as, for example, a refrigerator, where the information is readily accessible and unlikely to be lost. From business cards and advertising cards to novel postcards and greeting cards, magnet cards are growing in popularity. The current construction of magnetic cards, however, has several disadvantages.
A conventional magnetic card typically comprises a flexible card blank to which a flexible magnetic sheet material is attached. The combination of the card blank and magnetic material forms a magnet panel with a magnetic face and a card face that may contain text and graphics. The magnet panel is separable from the blank via perforations. The card blank may be printed with text and graphics in any manner desired, with a special message or graphic on the card face of the magnet panel. When mounted on a magnetic receptive surface, the information contained on the card face of the magnet panel is conveniently displayed.
Reference is made to FIGS. 1 and 2 which show a large sheet 20 of card stock from which a plurality of conventional magnetic cards are made in a conventional manner. Typically, a strip of magnetic material 22 is attached to the large sheet 20 of card stock near the middle of the sheet. The individual magnetic cards 10, shown in dashed lines, are then cut from the combined sheet of card blank 20 and magnetic strip 22. In order to maintain a uniform appearance of the pre-printed offset text and graphics on the magnetic cards 10, some offset or gap between adjacent card constructions is necessary when cutting them out from the combined magnetic strip 22 and card blank sheet 20. Because the magnetic strip 22 is placed in the middle of the card blank sheet 20, both vertical and horizontal offsets 26 result in the magnet sheet material 32 when the magnetic cards 10 are cut out. Consequently, an undesirable amount of the magnetic material 26 is wasted in the prior art construction, which causes the cost of production of the magnet cards to be higher than desirable.
Moreover, the prior art construction of magnet cards typically requires three different cuts (the cards on the end of the sheet will require two cuts) through the magnetic sheet material 22 adhered to the blank card sheet 20 to form the magnet panel 12. Also, cutting through the combined magnetic sheet material 22 and card blank 20 several times increases the complexity of the manufacture of the card and contributes to an increased production cost of the cards.
Therefore, construction of the prior art magnetic cards leads to in efficient manufacturing operations and use of materials, as well as compromises the life span of the magnetic card.